Trousers-stretcher



(No Model.)

J. A. TRAUT. TROUSERS STRETGHER.

. 0. 442,926. Patented Dec. 16, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE,

JUS'IUS A. TRAUT, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

TROUSERS-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 442,926, dated December 16, 1890.

Application filed June 17, 1890- Serial No. 355,735. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JUSTUS A: TRAUT, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trousers Stretchers and Hangers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to supporters or stretchers for holding in shape and hanging up trousers or other articles of wearing-apparel, the object being to furnish a convenient and effective device for this purpose, adapted to be constructed at low cost and to have substantially those advantages which pertain to other supporters of the same class but made with pivotally-connected pressurebars.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side view or elevation of a supporter embodying my present improvements. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the supporter and illustrates the mode of using the same.

Similar characters designate like parts in both the figures.

My improved trousers-supporter consists of a handle constituting a spring and having oppositely-disposed outwardly-extending arms carrying pressure bars. Said handle and spring consist or may consist of the coiled wire or spring loop 2, whose ends 3 and 5 extend downwardly, substantially as shown and described, and in the same general direction, and at 7 and 9 respectively turn outward to connect with and carry pressure-bars for engaging the inner surface of the trousers-leg or garment. These pressure-bars 12 and 11, as shown in the drawings, are formed of metal rods of suitable length, which are usually provided with corrugations or with suitable adhesive covering for securing proper contact on the surface of the materials to be carried thereon. Said bars 12 and 14: extend both upwardly and downwardly from the lower ends of the handle-bars 3 and 5, thus bringing the lower part of said handle-bars much below the line 15 of the upper end of said pressure-bars and forming the handspaces S S between the handle-bars and the pressure-bars, thereby enabling the operator to grasp said handle-bars much below said line 15. By this means an instrument of sufficient range or capacity is provided, having a very short vertical height, so that when inserted in the trousers-leg, as shown in Fig. 2, the loop 2, by which the device may be suspended from a hook, extends to a short distance only above the upper line 15 of the garment. This construction is also desirable for the reason that it gives to the devicea greater degree of elasticity to a given quantity of material therein, thereby increasing its utility and reducing its cost. Said construction also conforms to the conditions necesssary for making available the principal feature of my present invention, which consists in the improved construction whereby the pressurebars are connected to the handle through devices of the nature of spring-pivots. Said pressure-bar connection consists of a bended portion, which in its preferred form is anintegral part of the wire or rod of which the supporter is constructed, said bended portion comprising a bend 20 at the upper end of the pressure-bar, a reversely-positioned bend 22 at the lower end of the handle-bar, and an intermediate connecting portion 21 lying between the handle and pressure bars and sub stantially parallel with and in the plane of said handle and pressure bars. The result of this mode of construction (in addition to making a greater length of wire in the supporter, whereby more elasticity is obtained) is to give to thepressure-bar the effect of a pivotal support intermediate of the length thereof. This peculiar feature or mode of operation is illustrated in Fig. 1, where, 011 the right-hand side of the supporter, is shown the effect of pressure in the direction of the arrow f on the upper end of the pressure-bar toward the left hand, said effect being to throw inward the upper end of said pressurebar and throw outward the lower or free end thereof, as indicated by dotted lines, the intermediate connecting portion or bar 21 being correspondingly moved toward the center of the supporter.

On the lefthand side of Fig. 1. is shown the effect of pressure applied to the left hand of the pressure-bar from the left hand toward the right hand, as shown by the arrow h, in which case the lower or free end of the pressure-bar is thrown inward, while a slight outward movement is given to the upper end of said bar. The general effect of the construction just described is to give to the pressurebars a free and proper action, whereby they conform themselves throughout their length to the shape of the garment to be supported thereon, thus properly equalizing the pressure throughout the length of the bars.

In using the supporter the user grasps the handle-bars S and 5 by one hand, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and closes together the bars, thereby bringing the ends thereof toward each other in position for entering the open end 30 of the trousers-leg l0, (also shown by dottedlines in said Fig.2.) Having inserted the supporter the length of the pressure-bars, the user allows the handlebars to expand by the force of their own elasticity, together with the elasticity of the s prin g-loop 2, thus allowing the pressure-bars to come to the line 32 84, representing the edges of the garment, when the instrument will stand substantially in the position shown in the solid lines in Fig. l. \Vhen thus put in place, the pressure-bars bear against the fabric with sufficient force, the size of the wire being suitable therefor, to hold up the weight of the suspended garment.

For securingsufiicient adhesion of the pressure-bars to the material of the garment with out excessive pressure thereon, I provide said bars with a coiled wire 29, extending along said wire from or nearly from end to end thereof. his wire, which is in the nature of a spiral spring, being comparatively rigid when on the pressure-bar, furnishes a large number of smooth rounded projections, which,

as l find by practice, engage the yieldingmaterial of thegari'nent with sut'iicient adhesion and without injury thereto, the wire 28 having a smooth surface.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The improved trousers-supporter herein described, consisting of the spring-actuated handle-bars bent outwardly and backwardly to form intermediate bars, substantially as described,and pressure-bars connected at their upper ends to the upper ends of the intermediate bars, the lower ends of the pressure-bars being free and unconnected, and the whole being formed of a single piece of spring-wire continuous throughout its length and shaped substantially as shown, whereby the pressurebar support is of the nature of a pivotal connection and the pressure-bars are adapted to freely conform to the garment.

2. The improved trousers-stretcherherein described, consisting of the spring-actuated handle-bars, the intermediate bars connected at their lower ends to the ends of the handlebars, the pressure-bars connected at their up per ends to the upper ends of the intermediate bar's, said handle-bars, intermediate bars, and pressure-bars being formed of a single piece of spring-wire continuous throughout its length and shaped substantially as shown, and a coiled wire, substantially as described, on each pressure-bar, forming a series of garment-engagin g ovaled projections.

J USTUS A. TRAUT.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS 1i. RICHARDS, HENRY L. RECKARD. 

